If The Diamondback can find a perfect meal plan at some university comparable to ours, the Residence Halls Association will work to implement it. Until then, The Diamondback needs to acknowledge there is still virtue in the plans, though imperfect, we have created.
Instead, The Diamondback has held the RHA’s plans — especially the new Apartment Meal Plan — up to an impossible ideal — as far as I can tell, the only thing that would satisfy Diamondback editors is if we told Dining Services to give people twice as much food as they pay for and then refund all their money at the end of the semester. I would like nothing more than to create a plan so favorable to students, but to do so would be ridiculously irresponsible, and there is absolutely no chance it could ever be implemented.
Instead, the RHA has done the next best thing: trying to create better meal plans than those we already have.
We created an apartment meal plan because we heard there is a need for one. In fact, we found a number of people in South Campus Commons already on full meal plans.
The optional plan we created is beneficial to students in apartments and to all other meal plan-holding students. This plan does have a sizable facilities fee up front, but it is still substantially less than a regular meal plan. The Campus Plan costs about $1,560 — $351.50 is a facilities fee and only $1,216 are resident points and Terp Bucks — the latter of which can only be used at specific locations and which are never refunded. Under the Apartment Meal Plan, paying $1,500 would include a $95 facilities fee and $1,405 points, which are refunded when students choose to close out their accounts, are carried over from semester to semester and can be used at any Dining Services-operated facilities, including most of Stamp Student Union’s food court and the Union Shop. Additionally, students who sign up for the Apartment Meal Plan receive coupons and discounts to dining locations that help offset most of the cost of the facilities fee.
The facilities fee is an unfortunate but necessary aspect of the plan. Any students who regularly use the dining halls create wear on the facilities and should contribute to the maintenance cost. (These costs include utilities, renovations, buying equipment and so on). Another alternative to the facilities fee in meal plans would be to dramatically raise the cost of food in the dining halls, but that could easily drive away faculty and staff who eat in the dining halls and thus bring less revenue to the department.
Which brings me to another point: Diamondback editors seem unwilling to make the connection between revenue brought into Dining Services and services offered to students. Dining Services is primarily funded by students, and most of the revenue that goes to the department goes directly back into student services. If the department loses revenue — as it did through cost containment — services will be cut (such as North Woods Buffet and all-night convenience store hours). To create meal plans without taking into consideration Dining Services’ wallet would be to create plans that would hurt students.
The goal of this plan is to give students in apartments the option of a meal plan more suited to their needs than the campus plan and to create a possible revenue source that will allow us to offer more student services, create more meal plans and make Dining Services more in tune with students’ needs.
The RHA has worked to provide students with more services and give them more options. We gave second-year students the choice of opting out of focus dates. We brought wireless Internet into dorm lounges, as well as the Cambridge Community Center and Annapolis Hall. We started a paper recycling trial program in several dorms. We also worked on the file-sharing issue.
If you are concerned about dining issues, join our Dining Services Advisory Board subcommittee, which will hold its first meeting Monday. Applications are available at www.MarylandRHA.com. Come to our next RHA meeting April 12. Contact any committees or executives — our contact information is available on the website. Make your voice heard!
Hannah Putman is president of the Residence Halls Association. She can be reached at hputman@umd.edu.
